2022 Speakers

Keynote

November 18, 2022 @ 10:30 AM - 11:05 AM EST |

Leah Thomas, Founder of Intersectional Environmentalist & Author of The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet

Leah Thomas is a celebrated environmentalist based in Los Angeles, CA. Coining the term ‘eco-communicator’ to describe her style of environmental activism, Leah uses her passion for writing and creativity to explore and advocate for the critical yet often overlooked relationship between social justice and environmentalism. With this intersection in mind, Leah founded and launched the non-profit Intersectional Environmentalist, a platform and resource hub that aims to advocate for environmental justice, provide educational resources surrounding intersectional environmentalism, and promote inclusivity and accessibility within environmental education and movements.

 

Building on her work in the field, Leah penned The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet. The book serves as an introduction to the intersection between environmentalism, racism, and privilege, and as an acknowledgment of the fundamental truth that we cannot save the planet without protecting all of its people.

 

Leah is also the founder of the eco-lifestyle blog @greengirlleah, where she uses her multiple years of eco-focused educational and work experience to inform her ever-expanding list of projects, and connect with her audience of more than 400k followers across channels. Leah has been named to several notable lists—including TIME100 NEXT, INSIDER’s Climate Action 30, Marie Claire’s Creators to Watch, EBONY Power 100, and InStyle’s The Badass 50—and is an established public speaker who has presented at Google, 1% for the Planet’s Global Summit, Dreamforce, and more. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, The Washington Post, and Highsnobiety. She has also been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, and CNN as well as ABC News, NBC, The Weather Channel, and numerous podcasts.

 

Leah is a graduate of Chapman University with a B.S. in Environmental Science & Policy and a cluster in Comparative World Religions. She has interned with the National Park Service and has worked at leading green companies, including eco-friendly soap company Ecos and outdoor retailer Patagonia.

 

PANEL 1 - Resilience and Equity in a Clean Energy Future

11:15 AM - 12:00 PM ET

DR MELISSA C LOTT

Moderator

Director of Research, Center on Global Energy Policy

Dr. Melissa C. Lott is the Director of Research at Columbia University’s SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy. She has worked as an engineer and researcher for nearly 20 years in North America, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Lott specializes in technology and policy research, working to increase our understanding of the impacts of our energy systems on air pollution and public health. Prior to joining CGEP, Dr. Lott was the Asst. Vice President of the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre and held roles at the International Energy Agency and U.S. Department of Energy.

CLAIRE BROIDO JOHNSON

Chief Operating Officer, Fermata Energy

Claire Broido Johnson is a senior operations executive with a 20-year track record in successfully launching, managing, and scaling businesses and products that drive changes in critical industries, including clean energy. Claire is best known for her groundbreaking work at both SunEdison and the US DOE. In 2003, she co-founded SunEdison, which scaled the solar energy services market. At SunEdison, she sold the first Power Purchase Agreements and raised the company’s first $60 MM in project financing. In 2009, she joined the Department of Energy, where she oversaw the deployment of $11 billion in Recovery Act funds to scale renewable energy and energy efficiency programs throughout the United States.

ALEJANDRA CASTRODAD-RODRIGUEZ

Executive Director, Resilient Power Puerto Rico

Alejandra Castrodad-Rodríguez is the Executive Director of RPPR. She has more than 15 years of experience partnering community-based, non-profit and government institutions to develop local economic empowerment strategies. As a policy advisor, she has led multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral teams focused on reducing inequity and exposure to risk. Her projects have ranged from the development of policy plans and strategies and disaster risk reduction assessments, to designing web-based community vulnerability and recovery tools.

WAHLEAH JOHNS

Director, Indian Energy Programs, U.S. Department of Energy

Wahleah is responsible for upholding and advancing the Office of Indian Energy’s mission to maximize the development and deployment of energy solutions for the benefit of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Johns is a member of the Navajo (Dine) tribe and comes from northeastern Arizona. Her background is in renewable energy and community organizing, having co-founded Native Renewables, a nonprofit that builds renewable energy tribal capacity while addressing energy access. Her work with the Black Mesa Water Coalition and Navajo Green Economy Coalition has led to groundbreaking legislative victories for groundwater protection, green jobs, and environmental justice.

PANEL 2 - The Importance of Sustainability Reporting in Combatting Climate Change

12:30 PM - 1:15 PM EST

ANISSA VASQUEZ

Moderator

Manager of Global ESG Policy, Persefoni

Anissa is the Manager of Global ESG Policy at Persefoni. She is a Gen-Z climate and ESG advocate who seeks to find and communicate solutions to the climate crisis, whether that be through policy, technology, or practical strategies. Prior to Persefoni, Anissa coordinated the sustainability program and helped lead the growth of the preeminent ESG legal team at the global law firm, Latham & Watkins. Her early sustainability career had her on the ground knocking on doors to advance New York renewable energy legislation with the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) and project managing zero-waste initiatives with America's largest open-air food market, Smorgasburg. Anissa was in the first graduating class of the Environment, Sustainability, and Policy program at Syracuse University.

KATIE SCHMITZ EULITT

Director of Investor Relationships, IFRS Foundation

With 20+ years of experience spanning four continents and nine countries, Katie currently serves as Director of Investor Relationships at the IFRS, focused on the work of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). She manages ISSB’s Investor Advisory Group, comprising 60+ investors with over US$53 Trillion in assets and is a frequent speaker on the subject of the financial materiality of ESG factors and their contribution to long-term value creation. Katie also co-leads market outreach in APAC. The Value Reporting Foundation (formed via the merger of SASB and the International Integrated Reporting Council [IIRC]) consolidated with IFRS 1 August 2022.

NIDHI CHADDA

Managing Director ESG and Climate Solutions, TRC Companies

Nidhi Chadda is a generalist growth investor and advisor across public and private markets. She is currently the Managing Director for ESG and Climate Solutions Advisory Group at TRC Companies, a leading global environmental consulting firm that she joined with her teammates from Enzo Advisors, a sustainability consulting practice she founded that focused on helping companies build best-in-class sustainable business models and worked closely with institutional investors to integrate ESG policies and frameworks across their investment processes. She earned her MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

JUSTICE HADLEY

Disclosure Manager, CDP

Justice Hadley is a Disclosure Manager on CDP North America’s Corporate Engagement team. The North America Corporate Engagement team works with 2,000+ of the largest companies in North America who are requested to disclose environmental data by investors and customers. The team supports companies from their first CDP response and helps them progress towards environmental excellence by adopting best practice in environmental management and disclosure. Justice specifically works with companies in the manufacturing and transportation sectors. Justice holds a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and currently resides in New York City.

PANEL 3 - Building Healthier and More Sustainable Food Systems

1:35 PM - 2:20 PM EST

LANA SUTHERLAND

Moderator

Chief Executive Officer, TEALEAVES

Lana Sutherland is the CEO and co-founder of TEALEAVES, a luxury tea brand that crafts Biodiversity positive teas and botanicals for five-star hotels (Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, Waldorf Astoria, Park Hyatt, Rosewood) and Michelin-star chefs. Informed by impactful design as a maker, Lana has led TEALEAVES into a matrix of intellectual explorations in Color+Aroma+Taste and Inclusive Design with iconic brands and institutions including Pantone, Herman Miller, Microsoft Design, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Museum, Harvard, Yale, and more. Lana has given talks at SxSW 2017, SxSW 2019, the Google Innovation Lab for Food Experiences, Microsoft Design, Cooper Hewitt, UBC, and SFU. She has also moderated numerous panel discussions such as at the inaugural World Biodiversity Forum in Davos that included BGCI, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, and John Hopkins Centre for a Livable Future.

DR DAPHNE MILLER

Clinical Professor, UCSF

Daphne Miller, MD is a practicing family physician, Clinical Professor at the University of California San Francisco, Research Scientist at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, and curriculum director of Community and Integrative Medicine at Lifelong Family Medicine Residency Program. As founder of the Health from the Soil Up Initiative, she brings together experts from nutrition, public health and agriculture, to build a health-centered food system from the soil up. Miller has two books about food, agriculture and health: The Jungle Effect, The Science and Wisdom of Traditional Diets and Farmacology, Total Health from the Soil Up . Farmacology was the basis for the award-winning documentary In Search of Balance. Miller is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Medical School and completed her family medicine residency and an NIH-funded primary care research fellowship at University of California San Francisco.

KATIE ANDERSON

Director, Resilient Food and Forests, Environmental Defense Fund

As Director, Katie works to catalyze the food and agriculture industry to set ambitious climate goals and implement strategies for improving environmental outcomes at scale. Katie has nearly a decade of experience advising companies like Walmart and Tyson on how to reduce the climate impacts of their global supply chains, with a particular focus on reducing methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and stopping tropical deforestation. Katie has a Masters of Environmental Management degree from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment.

ELIZABETH GABRIEL

Soul Fire Farm Speakers Collective

Elizabeth has decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, food justice, and sustainable farming. In her six years at Groundswell Center for Local Food & Farming, she directed the organization to be a leader among white-led farmer training organizations integrating equity into their work. As founding director of Common Good City Farm, she transformed a baseball field into a productive urban farm and grew the nonprofit from the ground up. She is passionate about food production, equitable food access, land sovereignty and collaboration. Elizabeth is a graduate of multiple anti-racism trainings including several by Soul Fire Farm, is a member of the Soul Fire Farm Speakers Collective, facilitates Talking Circles on Race & Racism and holds a dual MA from American University.

Fireside Chat - Gender & Diversity in Climate Innovation

2:30 PM - 3:00 PM EST

MELISSA CHEONG

Managing Partner, Blackhorn Ventures

Melissa Cheong is a Managing Partner of Blackhorn Ventures, an investment firm focused on redefining industrial resource efficiency. Melissa has 19 years of industry experience, with her most recent roles focused on social impact investing. Prior to Blackhorn Ventures Melissa was Chief Investment Officer at Zoma Capital, the private family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, and held various positions at Treehouse Investments, Imprint Capital (now Goldman Sachs-Imprint), Plainfield Asset Management and Deutsche Bank. Melissa holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Chicago, where she was a recipient of the Richter Grant. She received an MBA from Columbia Business School, with a concentration in Finance and International Development.

CLAIR PURCELL

Chief Venture Builder, Newlab

Clair has spent the past decade at the intersection of new business strategy, design and technology. She leads the Newlab Venture Studio, which partners with engineers, inventors and experts to build businesses that positively impact the material world. Clair joined Newlab after 7 years at Boston Consulting Group's Digital Ventures, where she built businesses and launched products in partnership with Fortune 500 companies in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. Prior to BCG, Clair founded and sold an e-commerce company.